Indian Railways provides an important mode of transport in India, transporting over 18 million passengers and more than 2 million tonnes of freight daily across one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world. The rail network traverses through the length and breadth of the country, covering more than 7,000 stations over a total route length of more than 65,000 km and track length of about 115,000 km. About 22,224 km or 34% of the route-kilometre was electrified as on 31 March 2012. Indian Railways is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.4 million employees. As to rolling stock, IR owns over 200,000 (freight) wagons, 50,000 coaches and 8,000 locomotives. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. It operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges.

Road

India has the second largest road network in the world at 5.2 million km. This network transports more than 60 per cent of all goods in the country and 85 per cent of India's total passenger traffic. Road activity has gradually increased over the years with the improvement in connectivity between cities, towns and villages in the country. At present, India's national highways network is responsible for carrying 40% of the country's traffic while accounting for only 2% of the country's total road network. The high dependency on road transport network has led to increase in focus of the government on expanding the road infrastructure network in the country. With an outlay of Rs. 2.21 trillion for infrastructure in the current financial year, Rs. 55,000 crore has been earmarked for roads and highways. Total investment in the road sector, including PMGSY allocation, would be Rs. 97,000 crore during 2016-17. Government has proposed to spend around Rs. 7 lakh crores to develop around 50,000 kms National Highways in the next 5 years.

Shipping

Maritime logistics are an important component of the Indian economy accounting for 92% of the EXIM trade by volume and 72% by value. A total of about 1 bn tonne of cargo is handled across 200 + ports and is expected to grow to 2.5 bn tonne by 2025. Over the years, maritime transport has emerged as a critical contributor to the country's competitive position in global trade. Maritime container trade has grown at 6.5%, which is higher than the world average of 5.4% over the past ten years (FY2005-2015). Government is keen on boosting investment in the shipping sector with a special thrust on promoting inland water transport and coastal shipping. Government is planning to develop inland water transport, as a cost-effective, less-polluting, fuel saving transportation option in the country. The objective of the Government is to boost the share of coastal shipping in inland waterways in cargo transportation from present 6% to 10%. It is expected that coastal shipping volume could grow from 90 million tonnes at present to around 400 million tonnes by 2025.

Aviation

During January-August 2016, domestic air passenger traffic rose 23.14 per cent to 64.47 million from 52.36 million during the same period in 2015. Passenger traffic during FY 2015-16 increased at a rate of 21.3 per cent to 85.57 million from 70.54 million in the FY 2014-15. In July 2016, total aircraft movements at all Indian airports stood at 168,400, which was 14.3 per cent higher than July 2015. International aircraft movements increased by 8.2 per cent to 32,830 in July 2016 from 30,330 in July 2015. Domestic aircraft movements increased by 15.8 per cent to 135,570 in July 2016 from 117,050 in July 2015. Indian domestic air traffic is expected to cross 100 million passengers by FY 2017, compared to 81 million passengers in 2015, as per Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). India is among the five fastest-growing aviation markets globally with 275 million new passengers. The airlines operating in India are projected to record a collective operating profit of Rs 8,100 crore (US$ 1.29 billion) in fiscal year 2016.